Motorcycle Custom Bike Rack

I love motorcycling. I love mountain biking. If only I could find a way to combine the two...

I thought briefly of trailering a bike behind my motorcycle, but there are too many legal issues (registration, turn signal lights, etc.)....and I think a trailer behind a bike is contradictory to the spirit of the ride.  So I opted to find a way of mounting my mountain bike to my motorcycle. I heard about a great business in Portland, called ReRack.  Their business goal is to service the Portland biking community by re-using and re-selling old Thule and Yakima bike racks.

I approached them on Tuesday afternoon with my bike and armed with my laptop with some photos of what others had done. They initially thought of fabricating a base by welding a bar to the plate and then attaching a Yakima fork mount rack (with rail). I did not want an expensive (and unnecessary) fabrication process. I wanted to use off the shelf products and a little creativity to mount to the many mounting points already on the bike.

I found some mounts that would latch onto the handle grips for the rear
passenger. The tops of these mount swiveled, which was important since the
passenger grips are not parallel. Once the right part for mounting a round
Yakima bar were found, it was just a matter of some creative bending of the
steel mounting plates so they would securely attach to the handles.

Now the second element was the swing arm that grasps the bike frame at the down tube. This was pretty simple. I used a hacksaw to cut off a lip in the mounting plate. I drilled some holes for some existing mounting screws. I then inverted the mounting plate and attached it through the existing "rack" found on my Kawasaki Concours.  All this work made me thirsty, and I took a little break. ;-)

It bobs a little due to the design and flexing of the swing arm, but
laterally there is no movement at all. It rides really nice and gets LOTS
of attention!

Enjoy your ride and keep the rubber side down. :-)

Motorcycle GPS

I alluded to providing greater detail of how I set up GPS on my 1986 Kawasaki Concours (ZG1000).  I had noticed some commentary in the COG forums where people were seeking cheaper alternatives to the $600-700 GPS units designed for motorcycle.  Don't get me wrong, those expensive units are nice and will definitely get the job done, but that is an awfully steep price tag.



Here is the solution I designed:

 Parts

     TomTom One touchscreen GPS
     Suction cup mount
     Glue gun (or screws)
     Power outlet from the battery
     USB charger

Steps

     1. Attach power adapter wires to the battery.
              a. Route wires from under seat along left inner fairing
              b. Tie down to prevent abrasion and shorting out 
     2. Connect usb adapter in a secure area along the inner fairing.
              a.  Secure with ties.
     3.  Secure the GPS mount
               a.  Squirt some hot glue into the suction cup base and secure to the top of the
                     instrument panel.  (See photo above)
               b.  For additional security, screw to plastic.
      4.  Run usb cable provided with GPS to adapter in fairing. 
               a.  Secure the cable to avoid abrasion
      5.  Fasten GPS into mount and plug in USB.

Considerations

The discussion found on the COG forum also was concerned with function in wet weather.  I lived up in Seattle with this arrangement and can vouch for it's capability.  The full fairing and (tall) windscreen on the Concours provide ample protection.  However, in the worst of conditions (which you should probably just park in), I found a simple ziploc bag placed over the GPS worked fine.

On the cheap

This solution's total cost retail would be maybe $120.  However, I believe in recycling and am uber cheap, so I sourced my materials from Craigslist.  My TomTom GPS only cost me $20, the mount another $6, and the wiring and adapters I had already.

Function

I found the TomTom usable even with gloves on, but just barely.  It was far easier to do with the gloves off.  As far as adjustments and corrections while riding down the road.....I wouldn't recommend it.  After all, we have enough to worry about while on a bike anyway.

Keep the rubber side down!
     

A Journey Begins...

After life events beyond my control, I decided the best option was to hit the road and see where it took me.  I began my journey on an original Kawasaki Concours (ZG1000) that I had bought from the original owner who was a head of the Pacific Northwest COG (Concours Owner's Group) chapter.

Fast!  Smooth. See gauges above.

The bike is a great design, so good, that it stayed the same for nearly 20 years.  It is a 1000cc Kawasaki Ninja with a full fairing, saddlebags, and a shaft drive for an extremely comfortable and smooth ride.  Did I mention?  It's also fast!

One of my first trips was with an old friend from high school, Amanda Thomas.  We had not been in contact for 20 years.  Upon discovering our close proximity to each other (I'm in Seattle, she's in Portland), we decided to take a trip to Vancouver, BC together.

Two things brought us to Vancouver:  1) Amanda is the coordinator for adult education at OMSI, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland.

The plan was to get some good racing in over the weekend and also to research the "science pub" program at the Vancouver's Science World. Turns out they didn't/don't have one.
(They should have Amanda @ Via Productions to create one for them.

2)  Amanda is a huge fan of dragon boat racing and is on a very good team called, The Wisabi White Lightning.  There were dozens of teams from all over the US and Canada.  Vancouver made for a very beautiful backdrop to the races.  Her team did fantastic and placed in the top 3 in the competition!

It occurred to me that I had been in the very spot 25 years earlier during the 1986 World Expo!  The skyline of the city had certainly changed dramatically, but the iconic dome (which is now Science World) and the monorail from that event remain.

We made great time from Seattle to Vancouver and back, thanks to the swiftness of the bike, but also to the custom GPS mounted on the dash (see photo above and more info in a future post).

Little did I know that this journey was to pave the way for many more to come and help to define a philosophy and a lifestyle that I would continue to enjoy for a long time.